California Labor Laws and compliance with Cal-OSHA has become a very tough act to follow.
In fact, compliance has become such a burden that most business owners and many in the consulting field as well are simply shaking their heads.
Here is a brief list of the new laws that are making compliance so difficult.
- The California Paid Sick Leave Law
- The Rise of the California Minimum Wage
- The new Sexual Harassment Policy that went into effect last April
- Cal-OSHA Fines up by 80%
- New Cal-OSHA Enforcement Procedures
- Cal-OSHA’s new Repeat Offender Law
Let’s just take a minute and talk about each of these.
California Labor Laws
The California Paid Sick Leave Law
This law has been a nightmare for employers statewide from the very beginning. This law affects many other laws that were already in place. For example, many employers liked to have a policy in place that would not allow an employee who did not work the day before or the day after a holiday to be paid for the holiday. With this new law, you can no longer do that. It is now considered discrimination.
Many employers wanted to change their paid vacation to paid time off since paid time off would qualify under the California Paid Sick Leave Law. The problem is that you can’t simply change your policy like that unless your paid time off has the same language as the paid sick leave law. Most employers were not prepared for that and thought that five or three days is the end of the story but that is not the case.
The Rise of the California Minimum Wage
The number one reason why this new law is so difficult is the extra money that employers now have to pay out. For those industries like the automotive repair and construction, the cost of employees went up even more because the double minimum wage requirement for those employees who must bring their own tools in order to be employed.
Another difficulty is business owners who have different job sites in different cities. Things would not have been so bad but then some cities decided they would have their own minimum wage. Now employers need to determine what the minimum wage is for each city that they have a facility at.
The New Sexual Harassment Law
This law is a nightmare because now employers must not only have the policy in their employee handbook but they must also pass out that policy as a standalone document and have each employee sign both the acknowledgment receipt for the employee handbook as well as the New Sexual Harassment Policy.
New Cal-OSHA Enforcement Procedures
Federal OSHA has told all state agencies that they must find and assess more serious fines. One of the ways that Cal-OSHA is doing that is by requiring employers to document every aspect of their company’s safety program.
It is no longer enough to have a written program that meets all of the standards, now you must prove by documentation that you are doing them by having a written record of everything.
You can expect more new laws, which is why many employers have chosen CES Today to help them get and maintain their compliance with all state and federal laws involving employees.
CES Today Makes Good Sense For California Employers
If you have not updated your employee handbook in the last year I would encourage to take a look at our membership to see just how easy we are making it for employers to comply with the laws and standards.
Our employee handbooks have been written by California Labor Law Attorneys. Not only that, but we have a network of attorneys that we make available to our clients should they need one.
Should you have any questions we would love to talk with you. Call us today – you will be glad you did.
Call Now and Schedule Your Free Consultation 888-358-2221
We will quickly assess your employee handbook and your safety program. We will help you to see how you are doing with your compliance issues. Everything we cover will be backed up by documentation.